GRADES OF SYRUPFancy: Very light and has a mild, more delicate maple flavor. It is usually made earlier in the season when the weather is colder.Medium Amber: A bit darker and has a bit more maple flavor. It's usually made after the sugaring season begins to warm, about mid-season.Dark Amber: has a much more robust maple flavor and sweetness. It is usually made later in the season as the days get longer and warmer.

MAPLE FACTS

Maple syrup is produced nowhere else on earth except northeastern North America.

Pure maple products are made only from the sap of maple trees. They contain no preservatives, artificial colors or flavors.

Maple syrup is boiled even further to product maple cream, sugar and candy.

A maple tree is at least 30 years old and 12" in diameter before it is tapped.

Tapping (drilling small holes into the trunk) does no permanent damage to the tree and only about 10 percent of a tree's sap is collected each year.

30-50 gallons of sap are needed to make one gallon of maple syrup.

Even though the different colors of syrup vary in taste, they all have the same sugar content and density.